I was reviewing available loads of salvage food and the question came up from one of our blog readers: Is it possible to start a salvage food grocery store with a single load of product? The short answer is yes, it is certainly possible depending on the size of the load you purchase and its mixture of merchandise.
Most loads of banana box salvage food come un-manifested, meaning you have no clue as to the pallet or truckloads’ contents. With uncertainty, you should opt for larger loads to get the best merchandise mix. Take for example a load available today from the supplier GDC Commodities Exchange, here in California. The load they are offering consists of 1152 banana boxes filled with salvage food for a total price of $15,500.00. They are advertising the load as a mixture of salvage food, HBA (health and beauty aids), Pet Food and general merchandise.
You could open a store with this load, but there are some issues to take into consideration…
- The sheer size of this load will take a lot of processing room. 48 pallets are a huge undertaking. You will need to sort and categorize the load before merchandising in your store. I am always advocating plenty of back-store processing room for salvage food stores. We are talking a single 53-foot truck filled with pallets!
- If you can properly categorize the load once delivered, a shipment this size can be used to open and restock within 1-2 weeks.
- You will need a forklift and pallet jack to process this load. If delivered in a 53-foot truck, most do not come with a lift-gate.
